Murphy to Oilers?

 With Oilers looking for a blueliner, could they go after Murphy. 

Hey everyone, in today’s blog post we take a look at a recent article from Jim Matheson as he was talking about the Edmonton Oilers and mentioned a guy the Oilers could target to help on the blueline.

Now Matheson believes that the Oilers's top priority at this year's trade deadline is to add a top four right shot defensemen, which makes some sense as they could probably use one more solid blueliner to add to guys like Bouchard, Walman, Nurse and Ekholm. So, I could see them try and add another blueliner and Matheson mentions that a top four right shot defensemen who they could pair with Nurse who would be a pretty dang good fit in his eyes would be Connor Murphy from the Chicago Blackhawks. 

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Now Murphy is making $4 million dollars right now so the Oilers have to figure out how to work that out cap wise, which I think would be very difficult because the Oilers are pressed right up against the cap right now, so they probably have to hope that the Hawks will be open to retaining a little bit of money or maybe they would have to give up a contract or two to free up some cap, but this would be a very interesting scenario for the Oilers. Murphy isn't a great offensive defensemen, but he's a big body defensive minded defensemen and someone who I think if they acquired him would actually work pretty well with Darnell Nurse, who is more of a offensive minded defensemen. 

I mean if you have Ekholm and Bouchard as your top pair, Murphy and Nurse as your second pair and you have Walman playing on the third pair with one of the other defenseman they have then that instantly improves that D core and I think would make it one of the best D cores in the Pacific division. Now I'm not going to say it's a guarantee to happen as I do think Murphy will get moved because he’s a Pending UFA on a bad Hawks team, so I don't think it would be too surprising to see Murphy get moved, but like I said the Oilers are in a cap bind and Murphy's making over $4 million, so I am not sure exactly how they pull that off cap wise, but I could definitely see the Oilers have some interest in Murphy and I also think the ask would probably be at the very least a second round pick and a really good prospect. 

So, the Oilers would potentially have to move a guy like Savoie, Howard or Quinn Hutson plus a second round pick to get Connor Murphy, would they do that? It's a possibility, but I'm not going to say it's a guarantee by any means. So, very interesting to note there, but keep your eye on the Oilers and Connor Murphy as they could be looking to try and hook up on a deal, and I would love to hear your opinion on this down in the comments section below and don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel.